1. Field of the Invention
The present general inventive concept relates to an image forming apparatus, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus and a method of controlling the same, which are capable of easily configuring a network for the image forming apparatus including a networking function.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, in home or offices, an image forming apparatus is networked via a local area network (LAN) to allow a plurality of users are able to commonly share use of the image forming apparatus in a transmission control protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP) based network environment. Accordingly, the image forming apparatus has a network card and is networked by connecting a network cable to the network card.
In order to network an image forming apparatus in such a TCP/IP network environment, it is necessary to execute a network configuring operation for the image forming apparatus. A network configuring operation may be used to configure an IP address of a device on a network. As illustrated in FIG. 1, a user operates an input unit and scrolls through the menus until a “Network” menu appears. When the “Network” menu appears and is selected by the user, a variety of sub-menus appears including a “TCP/IP” sub-menu. When the “TCP/IP” sub-menu is selected, the variety of sub-menus appears again including a “Static” sub-menu. Upon selecting the “Static” sub-menu, an “IP Address” item for inputting an IP address appears. After the IP address is configured by the “IP Address” item, a subnet mask and a basic gateway are configured.
In order to allow the user to select the “IP Address” item, the input unit must be operated at least five times. The number of operations is restricted to the configuration of the IP address. If the configurations of the subnet mask and the basic gateway and other additional configurations of a network (scan-to-email or net scan) are included, the number of operations necessary for the configuration of the network increases.
Conventionally, in order to allow a user to configure a network for an image forming apparatus, several menus must be operated such that a menu for configuring the network is selected. Thus, conventional devices lack convenience and ease of use.